Our life living off the land in our log cabin, breathing fresh mountain air, and getting back to basics.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Our First Full Day

Last night we were exhausted after the long day of travel. It was wonderful to fall asleep to the sound of the flowing water in the creek that flows along the north and east sides of the cabin. No other sounds to be heard! After a restful sleep, we woke to birds surrounding us in the woods, and of course, more creek flowing. What a way to start a day :)

OK, a truth to be told...I had a relatively restful sleep, but woke in the middle of the night thinking about my blog, some of the challenges I have experienced in setting it up (not such an easy task, seems like it should be simpler for newbies like me), and some of the feedback I had received after sending my first post. So, being the "A" personality type and unable to let things go easily...this shall be eliminated from my persona as I spend more time here, I am committed to that!... I had to get up and try to figure a few things out. I am still working on the background and font colors, and welcome feedback. I am also still trying to figure out a bunch of widgets/gadgets that should be helpful but the ability to set them up eludes me. I did work on it for a while, accomplished what I wanted to for the time being, and subsequently discovered at 3am that I put the wrong URL for my blog in the email I sent out to friends/family/colleagues...I HAD to fix that! Once accomplished, back to my creek sounds for more sleep, and sleep I did!

Our day was filled with thinking through all we needed to do to organize ourselves for full time living in our very much loved but small log cabin. All part of the simplifying! When we would come visit, though many things were organized, we inevitably had things placed here and there, with no "home" for some things so to speak. I feel good after organizing our bedroom closet and drawers, and Johny built me one more shelf next to my side of the bed, that made me happy:) Minimizing is, well, not as simple as one (meaning me) thinks it should be. But once again, as I spend more time here, living simply shall become my way, naturally!

This afternoon, we were entertained by thunder and rain. Yes, we find that very pleasing. I did find it very difficult to regulate my body temperature today, very cool this morning, then warming slowly until about 1pm when the rain came. Then I was cold all over again. I must have added/removed articles of clothing 5 or 6 times this afternoon. But I shall not complain, I still love the cold. In fact, it is getting colder right now. We have not had a fire yet, I do anticipate tomorrow the morning will be filled with the additional sound of a crackling fire!

We closed our evening with an invitation from one of our mountain friends to join him and his family and friends for a meal of venison and South Carolina gator, which he and his wife harvested/hunted (the correct term was discussed but all agreed both were correct), and morels (a delectable mushroom) & ramp (a garlic/onion like green) both harvested from the forests in the mountains here. A delightful evening with a beautiful view of the Cowee mountain range, and a warm welcome to our mountain living. We are looking forward to harvesting our own morels and ramp in the next few days. More to come about that!

About Me

There are moments in life when you are reminded of how precious every moment is, and how important it is to love what you live. A favorite quote by Mark Twain “twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones that you did” was posted in my office. Following several undesirable events occurring in my life recently, most significantly my younger brother passing away unexpectedly, I knew it was time to “sail away from the safe harbor” (more of the same quote).
So my retired husband (best friend/confidant/Mountain Man) and I decided we wanted to go to the place we loved most, our log cabin in the Smoky Mountains, and “live off the land”. Time to…Simplify…Explore…Appreciate…Discover…Learn… Grow…
So I resigned from my job and here we are. I am recording the adventure in this blog. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I know I will.